Political maneuvering in Rada and situation in Ukraine are main events of Monday

KIEV, March 03, 2:17 /ITAR-TASS/. A session of the joint-conference council is to be held in Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada on Monday to determine an agenda for the forthcoming plenary meeting on Tuesday.

Considering the present-day situation, the Ukrainian parliament's work schedule may undergo changes and, instead of one plenary meeting scheduled for the present week, the MPs may decide to keep on working in the sessions hall.

On Sunday, the Verkhovna Rada worked in a closed-door mode, discussing the situation in Crimea and in the country as a whole. As a result of the discussion, a number of resolutions were passed. One of them emphasized the "inadmissibility of territorial claims to Ukraine" and contained a demand "to prevent introduction of the armed forces of the RF to Ukraine's territory".

The MPs adopted an appeal to the parliaments of the countries that are parties to the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 and to international organizations in a call to send special monitoring missions to UKraine with a view to familiarizing themselves with the state of affairs in this country and then applying to their governments to render the nessary assistance in the guarding of nuclear facilities in Ukraine.

The Verkhovna Rada also suggested "setting up a group for talks with Russia with a view to normalising relations and deescalating the situation in Europe". In a separate resolution, the parliamentarians stated "full solidarity and support" of Ukraine's armed forces, and approved the decision, made on the previous night by the Council for National Security and Defence, on a full alert of the armed forces and instructed the Council of Ministers "immediately to improve the material and financial support to meet all the requeirements of the armed forces".

Meanwhile, the new Ukrainian authorities seek to replace as quickly as possible the heads of regions. Within one day alone, Verkhovna Rada Speaker Alexander Turchinov, acting President of Ukraine, replaced the leadership of 18 out of 24 regions of the country at once.

In Donetsk Region, in particular, Sergei Taruta, a big businessman and president of the Metallurg footbal club, was appointed to head the administration. Dnepropetrovsk Rerigon is now headed by Igor Kolomoisky, a businessman, Ukraine's second-wealthiest person and the owner of tens of enterprises in the country's east. Kiev Region is now headed by Vladimir Shandra, former chairman of Ukraine's state service for emergencies, and Sidor Kizin, leader of the local organization of the Freedom party, is heading Zhitomir Region.

In the meantime, members of the Lugansk Regional Council voted no-confidence in the central executive power bodies and passed a resolution with an estimate of the situation in the country. In Donetsk, about 2,000 people, who gathered outside the regional administration building, took part in a meeting under the motto "Defend Donbass" (Donets Coal Fields).